Family skate at the Shelburne arena

January 8, 2016 · 0 Comments

Dear editor:
The grandfather is wearing a Habs toque and jacket. Grandma is in something black from the Bay or Walmart. The tiny one between them grasping their hands is in a pink snow outfit, helmet and white skates. It’s as if she’s made of rubber, feet slipping and sliding in a better imitation of the Scare Crow than Ray Bolger himself. They release her hands and she falls. Pulling her back up is like pulling an oozing blob of silly putty.
Others whiz around her like shooting stars as she flops and gets picked up over and over again. Young men in hoodies with hands in pockets are taking long energy-saving glides as if strolling a boulevard. A daddy, holding a toddler in his arms is whispering in her ear as she watches her older brothers skate circles around them.
The oldest one on the rink, sporting a serious protective helmet keeps his balance well, as if he’s been skating for 70 years. He might need a cane on the street but the ice is an old friend.
It takes the trio 15 minutes to circle the arena. By now she is standing on her own for three maybe four seconds at a time before her skates fly away as if trying to escape and her feet chase after them, landing her on her bum.
Boys in goalie helmets are racing, playing tag, crouching for power, smashing each other into the boards. A foursome of eight-year-old girls with hair flying is playing follow the leader, first on one skate, then twirling, then skating backwards.
By the third circle around the arena the little one is holding her arms out, waving off the grandparents, taking three, sometimes four steps on her own and then down again. Now she can get up by herself… and fall down… and get up ….
Finally grandparents are done and the little one makes it off the ice all by herself, albeit on her knees.
What gets me is that for her it was never about defeat. It was as if the ice was a slippery playmate, teasing and joking, full of gleeful surprises and promises.
Ontario in winter.
Eric Nagler,
Mulmur